April 23rd, 2019

This story originally appeared in Tulane Today and Inside Higher Ed entitled The Future of Gen Ed on April 18, 2019.

Dr. Laura Rosanne Adderley, associate professor of history at Tulane University, was one of several speakers at Wednesday’s Inside Higher Ed Leadership Series event, The Future of Gen Ed. The sold-out all-day meeting featured conversations on why general education matters more than ever, along with data-driven arguments for gen ed. Other speakers offered thoughts on challenges and lessons learned in their own institutions’ gen ed reforms, and whether diversity should be a program requirement.

Dr. Adderley discusses Tulane’s decision to add two diversity-related requirements to its curriculum. The requirement are inspired by the idea that when one studies life, language or culture outside one’s own domain, one’s racial empathy grows. Adderley said it’s too soon to call these new requirements a success. But one hope is that they’ll not only revitalize enrollments in history and other courses dealing with diversity, but possibly draw students deeper into these programs, through exposure.